Poet and historian Christopher T. George, British-born but now a U.S. citizen, regularly blogs on politics, current affairs, culture, and history. He brings an eclectic and unique viewpoint to all that he writes about.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony has been in the news recently because of the video gone viral, “Joseph Kony 2012.” This terrorist leader has been on the run for years, one of the worst and bloodiest men in Africa, known for atrocities throughout Uganda, Ruanda, and the eastern Congo, yet he seems to lead a charmed existence that has kept him out of the grasp of justice.
The following poem of mine placed third in the October 2006 Interboard Poetry Competition (IBPC) representing Writer's Block--
Joseph Kony
The Lord told me, "Raise a children's army."
So I formed the Lord's Resistance to fight
the oppressors in Kampala. My boys burned
village huts, killed, cut off people's ears and lips,
-- now their mouths stay open, the better to pray
and their ears strain to hear the Lord's words.
Some ask why we did all these things. Why does
a leaf fall? Is it not because God wills it?
When my children pounded babies in wooden mortars,
dare you question it was the Lord's request to me?
Now some name Joseph Kony a war criminal. Yet,
the way of my people, the Acholi, is to forgive, to invite
all to the mataput, to share a roasted
sheep. I will quit the jungle with my sixty wives
for nothing less than full amnesty, the shared meal.
I will emerge from the jungle shadows,
an old lion bringing the wisdom of my Lord God
to the young lions to tell them to let the holy oils anoint them,
a stone sewn into their garments
so a mountain projects to shield
them and all bullets bounce off.
And I will sing in praise
of the Lord of the limping and the lost,
Lord of the empty basket,
of the water turned to blood,
of the severed lips and ears -
the butchered lamb at the feast.
Christopher T. George
Judge’s Comments:
Matthew Arnold and Robert Browning couldn't have foreseen that the dramatic monologue would be put to such use, but that's what the tradition is all about; you take the best from the past and you ring changes on it. Here, a blood-drenched man speaks his mind, and we despise him, yet we understand him. A poem is not going to work unless the reader can say, "Well, yes, I guess I've felt that way myself." We say that after reading this one and then we flinch, not at the subject but at ourselves, at these beasts and angels we call humanity. --David Kirby

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About Me

Christopher T. George was born in Liverpool, England in 1948. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland, near Johns Hopkins University with his wife Donna. Chris is the author of Terror on the Chesapeake: The War of 1812 on the Bay and co-editor of the Journal of the War of 1812. He is featured in the History Channel's "First Invasion: The War of 1812." He is working with Dr. John McCavitt on a biography of Major General Robert Ross. See The Man Who Captured Washington - General Robert Ross. He is historian for the Havre de Grace Bicentennial project and is an advisor to both the Maryland and Baltimore County Bicentennial projects. He regularly gives talks on the War of 1812 in the Chesapeake Bay region. Chris tweets at hashtag @cthompsongeorge